A Second Chance
by EzriandLucian
Summary: One-Shot: After Malcolm enters Ezra's life and he takes on the role of becoming a father to his newly discovered son, Aria is faced to make a difficult decision and chooses to put Ezra's and Malcolm's new relationship first, sacrificing her own. But when Ezra has a revealing and detrimental secret to share with Aria, they may just be given something special.


**My first one-shot :) Enjoy, y'all!**

Aria was confused by the missed calls appearing on her phone from Ezra. The two lovers hadn't said much of anything to one another after their heart-wrenching breakup. There wasn't really anything to say, because in a way, there was too much to say, just neither knew how to begin.

The previous month of their relationship had been tumultuous and fateful: Aria realized the love they'd fought for wouldn't last with Ezra's son in the picture. She was only seventeen and unable to fathom taking on the role of being a mother when Maggie wasn't around. She couldn't be mad at Ezra though for their relationship's fallout; he was a good man and felt obligated to take care of his son and attempt to make up for seven years of lost time. What he did was admirable: accepting a child in without hesitation, knowing it would change his life drastically but also realizing the responsibility he had and what he owed to his son.

Several texts. Aria had managed to ignore them as they filled up her inbox. She was trying desperately to forget about her ex-boyfriend/I-really-thought-we-were-forever, once-in-a-lifetime type of love and she needed to make sure she didn't give into her curiosity because she knew the texts could easily be a cause for turmoil and give the heartache she had just managed to begin to heal from a chance to resurface.

The initial pain of losing Ezra was beginning to subside, but there was still a lingering trace of heartbreak that was both overwhelming and overbearing on her heart, which had seen a rough patch of time following the breakup. Aria suffered for weeks with the reality of the decision, and in the time leading up to their split, the decision to end something she never wanted to or thought she would. She was desperate to find a way to heal, but she knew only time could fix her heavy and much broken heart.

Regardless though, a slight sliver of hope remained and a type of relentless faith entertained her, making her hold onto the messages and not delete them because of the deep need and hope that the messages held within them a second chance, though she would never admit her secret need for another opportunity to make things right, set their love straight again, and consider a future once more.

Lying in bed one night, thoughts of Ezra whisking her away to times she had avoided remembering except for rare moments of weakness, she thought of the beginning and the end that was never supposed to come, reminiscing heavily on the times they shared, comforted by the presence of each other and knowing that a love co-existed between the two of them and inhabited their bodies, causing them to beat more as one than two.

She would've given anything to go back to the beginning, which is where she seemed to find her thoughts leading her to much of the time when she let her mind roam freely, allowing it to form thoughts all its own without rules and regulations.

A depressing day. A jet-legged Aria. A curious Ezra. A pub and a song. Small talk made by two complete strangers whose paths just happened to cross. Their common interests gave them an unexpected chance at something magical and fate was the reason for both their meeting and ending. Fate had been so giving, yet so reckless and deceitful. It made her believe that Ezra offered her a true chance at love and a life she wanted, one that her parents had promised one another but had failed to provide.

Thinking back to the beginning and examining the events of that influential and deciding day, she recognized the defining moment of their lips interlocking and a deal being sealed. There was an instant chemistry that existed, regardless of their apprehensiveness to admit it and a passion-fueled chance at love kept them holding onto each other.

Aria sat during English, not paying attention to the lecture Ezra was giving to the class about the themes behind Shakespeare's infamous plays and write-ups. He stood up in front of the classroom, analyzing each line's meaning heavily and to a full extent.

His voice filled the silence of the room, surrounding her. She could feel him glancing at her from time to time as she found ways to entertain herself and do something - anything - to keep from seeking out his teachings and becoming active in classroom discussion. She knew that any type of interaction would bring back a flurry of emotions and was concerned that they would blur her thinking if she were to engage herself. She could picture him asking her a question about Hamlet and her shouting out, with no control, "God damn you, Ezra! I loved you!"

The bell rang 24 minutes later. Aria let out a long, drawn-out sigh, an unspoken sense of relief found in her exhale as she began to gather her stuff and look to her friends.

They traveled in a pack and the three girls circled around the front of Aria's desk, watching for her and examining her flustered state.

Ezra cleared his throat though, feebily and shakily saying, "Girls…"

The girls stepped back from the front of Aria's desk, exposing her to Ezra's soft gaze.

His eyes focused on her as she stood revealed in front of him, her friends no longer surrounding her and acting as a barrier. She stared back at Ezra with obvious discomfort.

"C-can I speak to you alone, Aria?" he asked hesitantly.

The girls shot her a weary, concerned look and were confused by his unexpected and unprecedented gesture. Their eyes asked what their mouths didn't: "Are you okay?"

Aria, too, was confused but assumed he was wanting to explain his texts that remained unread. She nodded slightly, unsure herself in what to expect or if she wanted to be alone with him. She was still in a state of vulnerability and saw him as a threat to the wall she had constructed after he'd broken her heart.

The girls slowly and hesitantly walked away, looking at each other in unison, confusion written on their faces. And with their exit, Aria and Ezra were left alone for the first time since their relationship had been called-off.

This signaled Ezra to make his move and he slowly began approaching Aria, whose guard was obviously up as her eyes studied him and what, exactly, was happening.

It was as if the distance she'd managed to keep between them could keep away some of the pain, but whenever he came too close, it was a reminder of what they no longer had.

He was only a few feet away from her, stopped by the left side of the desk in front of her. Aria avoided making eye contact and initiating a conversation that she desperately wanted to find her way out of.

Her mind raced with thoughts over what he could want. Had she forgotten something at his apartment and he'd just recently found it? No, his face seemed much too serious over a lost ring or movie. There was something in him going on that she couldn't quite detect, but a certain sadness lingered in his eyes, on his face, in the way his body moved.

Standing here, a small gap between them, him all hers for the time being and the smell of his Ralph Lauren perfume taking her back to times they'd managed to see each other in between class just to say hello, remind each other of plans they had, or discretely and in their own ways saying, "I love you."

_I…love…you_, she thought. Three words she'd never thought she'd have the courage to say until she met Ezra Fitz and fell head-over-heels for the blue-eyed hopeless romantic and English teacher. _Her_ English teacher. A wave of disappointment swept over her when she remembered this fact, knowing that he was nothing more than just that anymore. He couldn't be for the sake of his little boy and new family. Their secret love affair had ended, their hopes to spend a life together crushed, along with the dreams they'd each had for what their future together entailed.

She was ripped from her thoughts by Ezra's gentle and soft manner. "Aria," he spoke in a whisper-like tone, her name seeming to come out in almost a breath.

She looked up hesitantly to meet his gaze, his eyes seeking her out in hopes of grabbing her attention.

He did as his eyes began to water. She was taken aback by his gesture, and now, tears. What was going on?

"Ezra," she said in an equally soft tone, sincerity in the way she approached him. "Wh-what's wrong?" she asked, obvious concern in her eyes, loyalty in her question. She stepped forward the slightest bit, wanting to comfort him but not knowing how.

Ezra looked down, trying to find his words. There was a moment of silence, then he cleared his throat and swallowed hard. "M-Malcolm… he…" he paused, trying to figure out how to say what he needed to but he himself was not ready to say it, admit it because he didn't want it to be true.

"Ezra," she said, urgency in her voice. "D-Did something happen?!"

Ezra looked at her, reminded of the love he had for her. She was concerned, worried, tears starting to form out of fear for what he would say. Even though they had broken up and called it quits, they were far from over. She hadn't talked to him in weeks, didn't even look at him or engage in his class, but here she was, ridden with worry about Malcolm. He wasn't her son, more of an unexpected surprise that changed the tides of her and Ezra's relationships. There were no more high tides, only lows and nights filled with frustration and discomfort over the situation they were put in. He was touched by the way she cared for a young boy who she easily could have resented. But even in the beginning, she welcomed him, if only for Ezra, and admitted that Malcolm grew on her as time wore on.

"Ezra," she said again, wanting to get his attention. "Ezra!"

He snapped out of his thoughts, examining the weakness of her cries for him. Her voice shook and cracked, a mixture of fear, confusion, and concern written on her face.

Ezra replied meekly, "Malcolm isn't mine."

Three words that took Aria by complete surprise. Shock, amazement, confusion. "What?" she asked. This had the potential to change things—_everything_—between them that they'd known since their breakup. A chance to go back to the start, the beginning of their love. But Aria made these thoughts come to a quick halt before they got away with her. He'd invested everything in a child he thought was his, had fallen more in love with Malcolm than her. And all of that was ripped away. But how?

Ezra answered her question on cue, as if knowing this would be the next need-to-know revelation Aria would ask about. "I got a paternity test. Maggie was going to move to Seattle to get her Master's. They offered her a great opportunity and she was going to take him with her. I had to fight for custody, but before I could start, I had to get my name on his birth certificate and establish paternity. I'm…" he trailed off, looking down and swallowing back tears before meeting her gaze once more and finishing, "I'm not his father."

Aria repeated "What?" again, still in shock. "Maggie let you believe he was yours?" Disbelief and disarray were all over her face, clearly expressing the emotions she didn't speak.

Ezra nodded, sadness taking over his facial features and emphasizing lines that weren't there before.

"I-I'm so sorry," Aria said genuinely and in an attempt to comfort Ezra's obvious devastation.

"Yeah, me too." Ezra stepped closer as he continued, "But you know what I'm most sorry for?"

"What?" Aria said so softly it came out in a barely audible whisper.

"I didn't hold onto you," he said simply.

"Ezra," she began. "You thought you had a son to take care of. You did something admirable and only something a good man would do: change his life to cater to the needs of a child he had known nothing about for seven years in an attempt to make up for lost time. You owned up to a child you thought was yours without contemplation or hesitation. I wasn't more important than that. Malcolm took priority like he should have and that's what he deserved."

"I gave up _you_, I gave up_ us_ though. I let it affect our relationship and allowed it to have a defining and negative role on what we had. I let you go when you were still holding on. And when you were still holding on, I was letting go. We weren't on the same page anymore. We fought about dumb things, small things and I let my sudden role of being a father take over the role I had as your boyfriend and that was never what I wanted or expected. Everything just went to shit for us and I-I brought a child into my life, fell in love with him and being a dad, and let you believe that there wasn't room for you and that I'd fallen out of love with us, but that was never the case. I spent every moment thinking about you, wanting to change things and wishing for a chance to tell you everything I never did. I wanted another chance to make you stay and to try to repair us. I let go of the most real thing in my life to pursue something that wasn't even mine and I lost the fury in me to fight for you because part of me knew I couldn't and the other part knew it wouldn't be fair to push that role onto you or expect something from you that you couldn't give fully. When I lost you though, I lost the part of me that knew how to love."

Tears slowly rolled down Aria's cheeks, leaving a shiny trail. "Stop, Ezra. Just stop," she begged, tears disrupting her vision, making everything blurry. "You did what you had to do and you don't regret that, you hear me? You never regret doing what you did for him. Never. You thought he was yours and you took care of him and created a bond and you made sure you were the father he needed. Don't regret that. Don't regret loving him and falling for his smile and giggle. Don't regret being in love. Especially with a little boy who couldn't help being put in the situation he was."

Ezra broke out into tears, heavy sobs bellowing from inside him. "I was a father and now I'm not. It was taken away from me." He paused, allowing himself to free the emotions that had been held up inside him.

Once he was able to calm the waves of emotion he had felt, he looked at Aria and said, "You told me to not regret being in love. But do you regret it?"

Aria sighed. "No, I don't," she answered simply, but then felt the need to continue on and elaborate. "I couldn't ever regret the year-and-a-half we had together. I could never regret the nights I snuck away to your apartment for refuge or the many orders of takeout we had. I could never regret the talks we'd have or the comfortable silence we sat in during times when it was what we needed. I could never regret movie nights and the makeout sessions that kept us busy. I enjoyed having you preoccupy my thoughts every day." She chuckled slightly through her tears, revealing, "You should see all the notebooks I had with your name doodled in it."

She looked down, curling her left hand to her eyes to act as a barrier to keep Ezra from seeing the tears that streamed profusely down her cheeks. But she continued anyways, saying, "…and knowing that I had you to go to was the best feeling. I could never regret giving myself to you and putting every ounce of myself into a relationship that made me genuinely happy. I could never regret the numerous phone calls and texts or the looks we'd give each other in the middle of class."

She looked up at him. "I _could never_ regret that. It was the most real, exhilarating, and blissful times I've ever experienced or felt. We had something special, Ezra. Why would I regret something so wonderful?"

Ezra sighed, feeling a sense of relief. "I love you, Aria. I love you even more than I ever knew possible."

"Ezra," she said, her voice small and weak. "We can't go back. I thought you'd know this."

Her words were a dagger. His newly found sense of excitement and anticipation for a future with her was suddenly crushed. He seemed to wince from the pain of her words. "What do you mean? You're the one who always said that it can work out how we want it to if it's what we really want."

"This made me realize, Ezra, that no matter how much we may want something, maybe it's not meant to work out," she said hesitantly.

"Hopeless romantic Aria is giving up? After all you just said?" he asked coldly.

"Letting go is _not_ giving up. You have a chance at that family you want _now_. You can go and get any girl you want and start the family that you want _now_. I'm a senior in high school and I can't give you want you want right now. It's not in the books for a few years. And sure, it was nice to daydream about a future together with a family in a big white house on a nice piece of land for our kids to play on and explore. But let's be realistic: this age difference_ is_ an issue when it comes to what you and I want right now for our lives. We're at two different places and, even though I care about you, we have to think that maybe, just maybe, there's a reason our love has been so difficult. Maybe it's a reoccurring sign that we aren't meant to last." The last words hit her: she'd thought it but never actually said it. She saw Ezra's face drop and felt her own do the same as the meaning of the words hit her.

Ezra stood speechless for a minute, trying to comprehend the situation. He felt he'd lost her completely because of his negligence. Tears rolled down his face as he realized what she said and what it meant: there was no second chance for them. He stepped back, wanting to distance himself from the pain of the situation. He found himself migrating to behind his desk, as if it were a place of refuge. He leaned his elbows against the oak desk and placed his face in his hands, wanting to bury the emotions coming to the surface and revealing the devastation he felt.

Aria followed him, standing in front of his desk and peering down at him in his heart broken state. "I-I'm sorry," she said sheepishly, her voice soft and raw with emotion. Her facial expressions showed her sorrow and disappointment; she'd never wanted to hurt Ezra but didn't want to continue holding onto something she knew wasn't healthy for her or him.

"I only want what's best for you. And I'm not that anymore," she tried to explain but knew it was hopeless.

She knew that she needed to do something for herself for once too and, though it felt like she was putting herself through hell trying to face a broken heart, she knew that she would eventually find solace in her choice and hoped Ezra would appreciate the push to move on.

Ezra laid in bed, his heart broken once again but this time in an even worse way. He'd left work early, knowing he was useless when he felt this way and he was much too vulnerable after the talk he'd had with Aria.

His thoughts were with her. He reminisced over the times they'd spent together alone in his apartment. How times had changed. His apartment felt as empty as he did. He swore he could feel her presence if he focused hard enough. He could smell her favorite strawberry scent that lingered on her body and the floral scent in her hair from her daily shampoo. Her hair had slight, natural curls and her face was framed by her defined eyebrows. He could feel her soft, warm skin against his own if he pictured them together, intertwined with one another.

Suddenly though… a knock. A pounding. A hollow sound that repeated itself.

He moved towards the door after dragging himself out from the comfort of his bed. He didn't want to leave the warmth of it because, right now, it was the only place he could find the condolence he needed after a hard day of bitter heartache that left him feeling desperate and alone. He didn't know how to move on from Aria and didn't want to. He'd tried and found that it was nearly impossible for him to forget about what they had and live a life without her sweet presence.

He opened the door, finding Aria standing in front of him.

Aria's own thoughts had gripped her too. Solace? What was that? She felt none. She just felt even more heartbroken than before. A second chance is what he offered her. But she was reckless, a walking disaster, completely in love but unable to make up her mind. Afraid of the outcomes of living without Ezra, but afraid of living with him because any day it could end. Scared to love deeply for fear of an early epilogue, yet overjoyed to love to no points' end. It was exhilarating and freeing to fall in love, but love seemed ruthless and spiteful. Trying to forget a love that only wanted to be remembered. Conflicted.

She looked at him, seeing a trace of agony behind his surprised expression. "Hey," she said gingerly.

He just stared for a minute, trying to find his voice. "Hi," he replied feebly, not knowing what to expect or where the conversation was headed.

"I-I don't want this to be over, Ezra," she said. "I don't know where our futures will lead us and if our lives will still be connected tomorrow, next week, next month, or in a year. I don't know where we'll go or where we'll end up, but I want," she paused. "I want to forget about the what ifs and the hows. I want to know that I didn't give up on this. With you, walking away isn't easy—it's the hardest because I feel like _everything _inside me is shouting to keep holding on and never let go. Once in a lifetime deserves a second chance. _We _deserve a second chance."

Here it was: a defining moment and another opportunity to love.

_Their _second chance.

**Thanks so much for reading! I would love to hear your feedback on what you thought of this and if you think I should make more Ezria one-shots! :)** **I love you guys so much! I appreciate your love and support and constant encouragement on my pieces of writing :) Your continuous feedback really is inspiring to me and your kind, sweet words make me want to keep posting and updating for you all! The positive comments you leave brighten my day and I'm so very, very thankful for them! I honestly can't believe the responses I've gotten so far and I figured I would expand my "collection" of stories for you guys! :)**

** Of course, like I said, be sure to let me know what you think of this piece and I do have other Ezria one-shot ideas, so your input would be appreciated so I'll know if you guys will want to see more of them! Please and thank youuu :)**

**-Halle**


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